this is a huge huge ipa, that can trick you with its hop delicacy, but really packs a punch. huge can too makes it a trip. the color is clear golden and bright, well carbonated, and producing an inch of white foam at the top of my wine glass. its got a nose of west coast hops, although they use varieties from new Zealand here. tropical fruits abound, as does a sweeter melon aroma. I don't smell alcohol, but man can I feel it after about half the can! robust hops flavors, oils, body, and bitterness as the finish draws near. sticky like honey as it warms up, and I still really don't taste the booze, which is impressive for 10% abv. the hops are refreshingly fruity, and they cover up the beers strength quite well. upslope has a good thing going with this, but the big cans are just a little more of a serving that I would recommend. bright ipa, well hopped, worth picking up.

An Imperial pint tall-boy can, procured on a Whole Foods run, on the first day of Denver Beer Week, last week, and a tad dear for the single, at that. I do like the typically spare ingredients list, only here the first item is 'snowmelt'. Gnarly.

This beer pours a clear medium golden amber hue, with three fingers of puffy, frothy, and ultimately bubbly pale beige head, which leaves a broad swath of metal t-shirt imagery lace around the glass as things take a header southwards.

It smells of sassy, somewhat musty citrus - sweet fleshy orange, underripe grapefruit, pineapple and kiwi - hearty biscuity, bready caramel malt, crystalline toffee, and further perfumed floral and pine resin hop esters. No real sign of the ABV as of yet. The taste is a mite bit more subdued - semi-sweet citrus cream, which does well to blend and obfuscate the individual fruits, caramel and toffee malt, some wet breadiness, a mild zingy, mint-suggestive spiciness, and back-nine leafy, woody, and pine needle hops.

The bubbles are rather understated, i.e. damned near flat, the body an adequate medium weight, and smooth, in that horror movie sense, where the tension tells you that something jarring is just out of range. It finishes off-dry, surprisingly clean, and teasingly hoppy.

A sort of strange bird for the style, but in a very good way. Everything on everybody's checklist is indeed there, but everything just feels, well, laid-back. Especially the full, nicely round 10 points of alcohol - where on God's green Earth did the brewer hide that? Wow - I found myself at times contemplating the quality of this unassuming APA (!!!). Anyways, a superbly rendered DIPA, nothing too extreme on either side of the proverbial aisle, and stupidly, inanely, and pleasantly easy to drink.

Handsome amber color with a long-lasting head in the tall Maredsous goblet. Gardenia flowers and pineapple in the aroma. Spritzy and sharp on the tongue.

Rich and unctuous mouthfeel. Expansive flavors of mango and oranges with a touch of carrot juice. Moderately bitter but nowhere near as bitter as the typical West Coast overdose. Delicious malt taste with some acidity but not as hot as you might expect with all the alcohol. Totally drinkable with a fruity and just right bitterness.

Another New Zealand hop bomb, but a sensational plus-sized strong beer for serious sipping. One of the best DIPAs I've had, and this can is at least six months old. From the lanky 19.2 fluid oz can bought in Denver.

"Upslope Imperial India Pale Ale" (NOT "Imperial IPA"); let's cut the shit with abbreviating beer names haphazardly, alright? 90 IBUs. 10% ABV confirmed. Reviewed as an imperial IPA because it self-identifies as such in the name and on the label. Reviewed live. Expectations are above average; I'm in the mood for this style. 1 pint 3.2 fl oz aluminum can with straightforward label art acquired at Davidson's Liquor and served into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass in me parents' gaff in high altitude Castle Rock, Colorado.

Served cold - straight from me fridge. Side-poured with standard vigor as no carbonation issues are anticipated.

A: Pours a gorgeous five finger wide head of khaki colour. Nice creaminess and thickness. Smooth complexion. Supple. Head retention is superb for the style - about 9+ minutes.

Body colour is a predictable clear vibrant copper. Translucent/transparent. I dig the vibrance. Some gold hues. No yeast particles are visible. No bubble show.

Sm: Has a nice citrusy bite to it - grapefruit and orange peel. Floral hop character. Clean fresh barley. Pale malts. Pine. Some breadier malts. A dash of caramalt - not too much. It seems like a good mix of malts and hops, with hops clearly dominating just a they should. But I'm not convinced of the integration or balance. Some zest. An approachable pleasant aroma of mild to moderate strength.

No yeast character or alcohol is detectable.

T: Pleasant juicy grapefruit bite with some taming orange citrus notes. Unfortunately, there's also a bit of that hoppy stale orange juice flavour that destroys so many otherwise good IPAs. Perchance a bit oniony. Malts are covered up by the hoppy notes, but I do get caramalt - a bit too much for the style - and pale malts. Also some bready malts. Clean barley throughout.

Flavour intensity is above average for the style. Shallow depth of flavour. Flavour duration is average.

Somewhat imbalanced. Decent complexity; not much subtlety. There's not a whole lot of pleasant flavour here, and the naked untamed bitterness really brings it down.

I don't pick up any yeast character, but there's a bit of alcohol that's noticeable.

Dr: A downable imperial IPA, but its lack of balance and absence of any special characteristics makes it forgettable. I'm sure many locals will rate this highly, but it doesn't compare favorably to the best/great beers in the style. Pedestrian. I wouldn't get it again, but it's drinkable enough. Certainly above average overall. They really need to sort that bitterness out if they want to play with the big dogs. Hides is ABV alright.

I CANnot get over just how many craft CANs are available in Colorado! If you are looking for a trade or if I owe you from a previous CANTrade (TM), let me know as I am going to have a plethora available shortly.

What a great Crack & Glug! The room suddenly seemed scented with hops. An aggro Glug later and I was facing a dense finger of tawny head with good retention. Color was a deep-amber with NE-quality clarity. Nose was redolent with caramel, minty hops and an alcohol heat/burn. My nose hairs suddenly disappeared! Mouthfeel was that of a big, solid dollop of goopy, gloppy beer on my tongue. Taste was intensely hoppy, very very minty, initially, followed by a wash of caramel. Finish was a like a minty caramel and if it weren't such a spendy beer, I'd have bought a bunch more.

tried this one out today and it's a solid beer. It hides the abv well and is not bad drinking. With a caramel color and clear body the beer looks good and sweet. Nice foamy head, some lacing.

It seems this beer's focus is on the bite, because the smell isn't all that good. Onion and metal, mixed somewhat poorly with pine and some citrus. The sweet bread helps it a bit, but the alcohol accentuates the calamity.

The flavor is better, though. That onion and metal is gone, replaced with citrus and tropical fruit, some green grass. Not to be outdone, the malt comes in with some sweetness...and booze. Still, it was easy drinking. I would like to know the hop bill further than "New Zealand hops". Why mention that and not the hops??

Aromatic beer this is one you can smell from across the room. Scents of sweet malt and heavy hops, from about 6 feet away. Strong tropical fruit and woody scents. Pineapple, mango and passion fruit with caramel candy.

Starts out savory with strong fruit flavors. Mild alcohol sting lots of mango taste. Pineapple and passion fruit with a little strong tea at the end. Bitterness is mild for the strength of the ale. Faint garlic taste if you look for it.

Another beer from the creator of the canquest, woodychandler. Poured from a 19.3?! oz. can. Has a rich golden color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is very hoppy, some tropical fruits. Taste is bitter, liots of hops, a bit of pine, some fruits, 10% abv is well hidden, dry at the finish. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is a solid beer.